Hi, I’m Katie. I teach middle school scientists and have a project-based, standards-based, and student-led classroom. Sounds like a lot, but those three work together really well. I also write, speak, and consult on all three.
LATEST POSTS
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Be Together. Not the Same.
Ever looked at student work and thought it all looked the same? At some point last year, I remember flipping through something the students had worked on and thinking, “Man, that’s interesting. These are all the same thing”. I immediately went back and looked at the rubric. Of course it all looked the same, the rubric…
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Why Don’t Report Cards Look Like Social Media?
Imagine it for a second. What if report cards looked like Twitter? Or Facebook? Or Instagram? I’ve heard a few people toss this idea around recently. At first, I couldn’t wrap my mind around it. But the more I pondered the idea, the more it started to make sense. Think about it. It could be really…
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Students Owning the Assessment Process Through Rubric Creation
Ah, rubrics. The favored tool for assessment by teachers. Loved for their wonderful detail and their range of performance levels, rubrics are a great way to communicate expectations to students. Just like other teachers, I love a good rubric. There’s just one problem; I’m really horrible at making them. I’m so horrible, in fact, that I’ve stopped…
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Bringing Science to Life
At the start of the year, I asked the students to define science. Here are some of their responses: Cool, huh? They have a lot of great ideas! Many of those ideas center around hands-on activities, which is awesome and definitely a huge part of science (in the classroom or out of the classroom). However, sometimes…
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Student Perspective on the Shift to Standards-Based Grading
Last week, I had a very enlightening conversation with my students. My district is transitioning to a standard-based report card next year, which includes the removal of letter grades from our system. I have been using standards-based learning and grading in all of my sixth grade science classes throughout this current year, so my students are…
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Siemens Science Day
Today, the sixth grade science classes at my middle school were visited by fourteen amazing volunteers from Siemens Healthcare as part of their Siemens Science Day program. Volunteers led a lab activity on the dangers of antibacterial soap, which fits perfectly in our current unit on microlife. Students replicated the work that microbiologist do by…
